Disney’s Sexualised Stereotypes From Snow White to Frozen
The Disney Princess franchise — harmless and wholesome, or too sexy too soon?
“When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are, when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true”.
The quaint words and music now an auditory part of a logo distract from the fact that Disney Corporation is a goliath whose earnings exceeded $40 billion US in 2011. The size, wealth and international reach of the Disney Corporation are significant. It owns the bulk of our children’s media, giving it the power to dictate the types of images our children view. To dismiss the beauty and gender ideals Disney promotes through its Disney Princess films and merchandise to the target audience of 3–5-year-old girls who emulate them as a short-lived fancy is a grave mistake. Children absorb these messages with sophistication.
Tanawan Asawarachan found “kindergarten children accurately identify themselves and their classmates as under, average or overweight”. Furthermore, evidence suggests exposure to sexualised images “contribute[s] to body dissatisfaction, eating disorders, low self-esteem”. Although fairy tales facilitate essential childhood development, Disney’s animated Princess films, with the Disney Princess marketing image, continue to perpetuate traditional gender roles and promote increasingly sexualised body aspirations to young girls, which may lead to negative body image and low self-esteem.
Fairy tales are essential for a child’s development. Although the subject matter of fairy tales can be ghastly, Bettelheim argues so is life. Thus fairy tales are an invaluable aid to assist children to prepare for the hardships of life, particularly on a subconscious level. Fairy tales allow children to explore their worlds and feelings in a way that real life does not allow; daughters are not allowed to hate their mothers, but through the story, they can vilify a step-mother who is spectacularly evil. Fairy tales have been much criticised by first and second-wave feminists because of the gender stereotypes they contain. As fairy tales illustrate societal norms of the times they were produced, the gender bias is an unarguable truth.
What is Disney’s role in perpetuating patriarchal gender stereotypes and promoting sexualised beauty ideals in young girls and popular culture?
Fairy tales are frequently re-written with different interpretations, changing the messages in the original story: Disney Princess films are a branch of the powerful fairy tale genre, yet the gender roles in Disney’s films are even more instructive than the original stories. The films push an archaic ideology and should be viewed critically; to not question the potency of these images may become something more we ignore at our children’s disadvantage. Parents and responsible persons are remiss in thinking Disney films are benign and without ideology.
Disney deviates from the original stories in Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty to show the main characters in various detailed scenes of domesticity. The films were directed by Walt Disney, showing his attitudes toward women. In Grimm’s tale of Snow White, the seven dwarves’ home was neat and tidy whereas in the film it is a mess, Snow White simpering “I suppose they have no mothers,” implying if they had mothers the house would be tidy.
Disney characters possess the gift of being able to charm animals, which help them in their various domestic settings. Even Cinderella who dwells within the city enlists the help of animals such as birds, mice, rats, and the dog to go about her daily chores. The animal’s presence does more than give energy and sentimentality to the scene; it is strong commentary that women performing chores about the house is a natural and wholesome activity. Apart from domestic duties, these main characters are largely absent from any action and lack the charisma of the evil step-mothers.
Disney does portray powerful female characters which are central to the film’s action. They are indomitably evil, a means to expound Walt Disney’s gender ideologies.
Sleeping Beauty’s Maleficent is arguably the darkest, most powerful character in Disney’s dichotomy to date. Disney dehumanises powerful women using visual othering. Maleficent is physically unattractive — tall, thin, with sharp, pointed features; one must remember the film was made and released prior to the rise of dangerously thin females being seen as glamorous in fashion and pop-culture. She has reptilian features such as green skin and yellow eyes, she wears a horned headdress; in these ways, Disney delivers a strong message to its viewers that powerful females are unnatural and from outside humanity. It also conveys the subversive message that women who are less attractive are thus because they possess inner qualities which show they are innately bad.
Research shows girls want to be thinner and boys more muscular after watching Disney films. Disney achieves this by connecting these archetypal physical characteristics to positive character traits and positive outcomes in the story. The characters are not only attractive, but they also possess an innate ‘goodness’; almost as if their outward beauty is a result of this. Disney’s main female characters are becoming more sexual in appearance. The Little Mermaid, Figure 1, and Pocahontas are scantily clad and unnecessarily sexualised. Comparing those characters with Figure 2, the conservatively clad Snow White shows Disney’s sexualisation of female characters has gotten progressively worse through the years. Disney has the power to challenge sexualised ‘norms’, but chooses to reinforce them.
The American Psychological Association states “if girls learn that sexualised appearance and behaviour are approved of…by the people (…) whose opinions matter most to them they are likely to internalize these standards…”. Without balance in the form of parental guidance and/or media diversity, this becomes a very real danger.
The perfect illustration for Disney’s determination to portray sexualised images for the marketing of its films and Disney Princess merchandise is its treatment of the main character from Disney Pixar’s Brave. Upon admitting Merida to the ranks of the Disney Princesses — of which Pixar has no part — Disney sexualised Merida’s image so greatly she became only vaguely recognisable next to her original appearance.
As Figure 3 and 4 show, this Brave Princess was metamorphosed from a genuinely decent role model into a creature with shining tresses and a narrow waist. The American Psychological Association (APA) states sexualisation occurs when at least one of four recognised criteria extant, including: “[A] person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behaviour, to the exclusion of other characteristics”, and where “a person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness (narrowly defined) with being sexy”. With two of the four criteria present, Merida has clearly been sexualised by Disney, as has every one of the Disney Princesses. By extension, this sexualises their audience: of little girls. The APA’s Taskforce also found exposure to sexualised images from the media sends a strong message that beauty and bodies are a girl’s only value.
The original version of Brave’s Merida resonated with its audience: Disney was petitioned and forced to change the character back to the original, which is how she refreshingly appears with the Disney Princess collective now. Disney ignored this sign that modern audiences were ready for real role models, and as Wilde points out Disney returned to type with the release of its next princess film, Frozen. In spite of having quite strong feminist themes and characters, Queen Elsa’s resplendent glamour and sexy appearance speaks louder than her mezzo-soprano voice. Being brave, clever, and independent remain secondary qualities. The visual language sends the message that looks are more important, and that is the message little girls are hearing.
If we accept that fairy tales are powerful vehicles capable of providing healthy outlets for subconscious thoughts not ‘allowed’ to be lived out in real life, then we must also accept sexualised messaging and perpetuation of outdated gender roles therein are just as powerful, and may limit girls’ perceptions of what they are capable of to begin with. It has been shown these films do have a negative impact on the way young girls perceive beauty ideals, and themselves — girls in kindergarten.
The omnipotence of Walt Disney’s outdated ideological legacy lives on stronger than ever, seventy-six years and counting from Snow White’s release. Disney is a “corporate giant” with international reach. The patriarchal gender roles and beauty ideals continue to play out through the static marketing imagery of the Disney Princesses. The overtly sexy portrayal of each princess eclipses any strength of character they may have. Merida from Brave is alone in her post-feminist presentation, however, Merida’s transformations show that when called to account by enough voices, Disney will make positive ideological changes. If the Disney Corporation continues to go unchecked, it can reasonably be assumed that it will continue reinforcing the disempowering messages that the best thing a woman can be is pale, thin, and sexually appealing; paving the way for harmful, documented effects in the lives of our girls.
I love a bit of repurposed academic writing, don’t you? This article is adapted from my original essay — still as relevant today as it was then. I’ve removed the in-text citations because they distract from your reading experience, but for anyone interested, I’ve included my bibliography below for anyone thirsty for more reading on this subject.
.
.
Asawarachan, Tanawan. 2013. “The Disney Influence on Kindergarten Girls’ Body Image.” University of North Texas. http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc271773/.
Bell, John. 2011. Hope 2011: Sydney Festival Keynote. ABC Big Ideas, 13:04, ABC. videohttp://www.abc.net.au/tv/bigideas/stories/2011/03/01/3150757.htm.
Bettelheim, Bruno. 1989. “From Bruno Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment”. Southwest Career and Technical Academy, Las Vegas: Nevada. Accessed May 18, http://swcta.net/moore/files/2014/02/bettelheim-uses.pdf.
Binder, Carl, Susannah Grant, and Philip LaZebnik. Pocahontas, directed by Eric Goldberg and Mike Gabriel. (Buena Vista Pictures, 1995). DVD.
Chapman, Brenda, Mark Andrews, Steve Purcell, Irene Mecchi, and Michael Arndt. Brave, directed by Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman, and Steve Purcell. (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, 2012). DVD.
Disney.com.au. “Out of the sea, wish I could be, part of that world!” Image. Accessed May 18, http://princess.disney.com.au/ariel-photo-gallery#image/52f542580a172d5ba80094ec.
Disney.com.au. “Lips as red as the rose, hair black as ebony, skin as white as snow.” Image. Accessed May 18, http://princess.disney.com.au/snow-white-photo-gallery#image/52f52ca70a172d5ba800701d.
Disney.com.au. “It takes concentration to hit the centre of the target.” Image. Accessed May 18, http://princess.disney.com.au/merida-photogallery#image/52f532110a172d5ba80079fb.
Donovan, Molly W. 1977. “The Uses of Enchantment”. Psychology of Women Quarterly. 2 (2): 179–182 doi: 10.1177/036168437800200201.
Duffy, Carol A. 1999. Rumpelstiltskin and other Grimm Tales. Faber and Faber: London.
Harlene, Leigh and Ned Washington. 1940. “When You Wish Upon A Star”. Accessed 14 May, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_You_Wish_upon_a_Star.
HLN. 2013. “‘Brave’ creator hates Disney’s princess makeover.” Image. http://www.hlntv.com/article/2013/05/11/disney-princess-merida-makeover-redesign.
Garofalo, Michelle. 2013. “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Teaching Critical Media Literacy with Disney.” Procedia — Social and Behavioural Sciences 106 (2013): 2822–2831. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.12.325.
Lee, Jennifer, Chris Buck, Shane Morris, and Dean Wellins. Frozen, directed by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck. (Buena Vista Pictures, 2013). DVD.
Musker, John, Ron Clements, Howard Ashman, Gerrit Graham, Sam Graham, and Chris Hubble. The Little Mermaid, directed by John Musker, and Ron Clements. (Buena Vista Pictures, 1989). DVD.
Pallant, Chris, D. 2010. “Disney-Formalism: Rethinking ‘Classic Disney’”. Animation 5 (3): 341–352. doi: 10.1177/1746847710377567.
Penner, Erdman. Sleeping Beauty, directed by Clyde Gerionimi, Les Clark, Eric Larson, and, Wolfgang Reitherman. (Buena Vista Film Distribution Company, 1959). Film. Accessed May 23, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_fi9FB_Wq8.
Peet, Bill, Erdman Penner, Ted Sears, Winston Hibler, Homer Brightman, Harry Reeves, Ken Anderson, and Joe Rinaldi. Cinderella, directed by Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, and Wilfred Jackson. (RKO Radio Pictures, 1950). Film. Accessed May 23, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQeXz_wDfXE.
Rothschild, Sarah. 2013. “The Princess Story”. Peter Lang: New York. http://site.ebrary.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/lib/curtinuniv/reader.action?docID=10651913&ppg=10.
Sears, Ted, Richard Creedon, Otto Englander, Dick Richard, Earl Hurd, Merille De Marris, Dorothy Blank, A, and Webb Smith. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Directed by David Hand, William Cottrell, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, and Ben Sharpsteen. (RKO Radio Pictures, 1937). Film. Accessed May 23, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tpzIL8ZhX8.
Wilde, Sarah. 2014. “Advertising in Repackaging the Disney Princess: A Post-feminist Reading of Modern Day Fairy Tales” Journal of Promotional Communications 2 (1): 132–153.
Wohlwend, Karen E. 2009. “Damsels in Discourse: Girls Consuming and Producing Identity Texts through Disney Princess Play. Reading Research Quarterly 44 (1): 57–83. http://search.proquest.com/docview/212102328?accountid=10382.
Zipes, Jack. 2012. Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion. Hoboken: Taylor & Francis. Accessed May 23, http://reader.eblib.com.au.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au.
